Study in the Epistle of Jude # 74: Verse 14

by Chris McCann

EBible Fellowship (http://www.ebiblefellowship.com)

Welcome to the Electronic Bible Fellowship’s Bible study. In our last study, we were looking at Jude verse 14, which says:

And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,

We have seen that Enoch’s life span was 365 years, as Genesis 5:23 tells us, and then God took him; Enoch was translated physically. We associated that 365 years with the acceptable year of the Lord (Isaiah 61:2).

We have also seen that God has written a great deal of information in the Old Testament about three particular feasts that were extremely important for the people of Israel to observe. As a matter of fact, God commanded that all the males of Israel were to appear before Him in Jerusalem three times in the year in observance of these feasts. On the Passover, which was on the fourteenth day of the first month, the Israelites were to come to Jerusalem. On the feast of Pentecost or Firstfruits, which was held sometime in the third month, they were to come to Jerusalem. For the feast of Tabernacles or Ingathering, which was held on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, they were to come to Jerusalem. They were to come to Jerusalem three times in the year.

These feasts did have their historical observances, as the Jews would endeavor to keep these feasts to some degree. We do read, for instance, of the Passover being kept in the days of Josiah as it had never been before, and a very good observance of the Passover was also kept in the days of Hezekiah. God does inform us of the nation of Israel keeping these feasts at times; but even though they were historically to be observed in the manner that God had prescribed and at the times that God had stated, spiritually, there was to be a fulfillment for these feasts.

These feasts, however, were not spiritually fulfilled in the many hundreds of years of the Old Testament. The feast of the Passover continued to be observed because it was not spiritually fulfilled. Once the feast was spiritually fulfilled, then that was the last time it was ever to be observed. That was the case with the feast of Passover and the feast of Pentecost or Firstfruits. Now with the feast of Ingathering or Tabernacles, there was a special consideration, a special allotment of God, because that feast would not be able to be spiritually observed until the very end of time. However with the Passover, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, came to earth and was the fulfillment of the Passover, so much so that God calls the Lord Jesus Christ the Passover Himself. We read this in 1 Corinthians 5:7, which says:

Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

Jesus was the Passover Lamb. This is why John the Baptist exclaimed when he saw Him, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Jesus was the fulfillment in all that that word means when it came to the Passover; He was everything that that feast was pointing towards. Therefore, that feast was done with and fulfilled, and likewise was the feast of Pentecost fifty days after the Passover.

We read in Acts 2:1:

And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

We notice that God says, “The day of Pentecost was fully come,” even though it had come many years earlier. It came year after year in the Hebrew calendar, in the Jewish calendar. Yet now that the Messiah, the Lord Jesus, had gone to the Cross, it was God’s plan to evangelize the world. The Holy Spirit was to be poured out upon the nations as the messengers of the Gospel going forth from the churches and congregations that God was establishing would carry the good news of salvation. The firstfruits would come in, the firstfruits who would be saved because Christ had provided salvation for them.

Now Pentecost was fulfilled; it was fully come. The spiritual dimension of this second feast in God’s calendar within His acceptable year had come. As three thousand were saved as the Apostle Peter preached, we see just an inkling of what God was about to do. The number three thousand itself is full of spiritual meaning. The number three points to purpose, and the number thousand to completeness; indicating that it would be God’s complete purpose to evangelize the world, to gather in the firstfruits of the harvest, and to save people from the many nations of the world. That is exactly what we see in Revelation 14:1-4, which says:

And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.

These 144,000 are picturing all those whom God would save. Are they picturing all those whom God would save in the history of the world until the end of time? Is this the whole company of the elect that we are being privileged to see as God is giving this information in Revelation 14? The answer is no, these are not all the elect of God. It very clearly tells us who these 144,000 are—”these were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.” They identify with the feast of Pentecost, which was the feast of Firstfruits.

That outpouring of the Holy Spirit began on Pentecost nearly two thousand years ago in 33 AD, when Peter preached and three thousand became saved. Then throughout the New Testament Church Age, for over nineteen hundred years, the Gospel continued to go out from the church. Many more became saved from the continents of the world and from the nations of the world. From every people and language and tongue, from every area of this earth, God was saving individuals. Each one of them was counted as a firstfruit because they were coming in the dispensation, we could say, of the second season of God’s acceptable year, of God’s salvation plan—the season of firstfruits. This season began fifty days after the Cross and continued up until a certain point in time, which would be the end of the New Testament Church Age.

This has occurred relatively recently. We have come to the end of the Church Age, the end of that second season, the end of the time of firstfruits. How can that be? If we go back to Revelation 7, we find the 144,000 mentioned. In verses 3-8, we read:

Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand…

Revelation 14 has identified these 144,000 as being the firstfruits unto God. The passage continues:

…of all the tribes of the children of Israel. Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Nepthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.

Twelve tribes are named, and there are twelve thousand from each tribe, totaling 144,000 firstfruits. This number, twelve times twelve and twelve times twelve thousand, is pointing to the fullness and the completion of God’s program to evangelize the world during the Pentecostal season of the New Testament Church Age. The Church Age is associated with the time of firstfruits. It is the second season in God’s salvation plan.

Yet, let us go back again to Exodus 23. We read in verse 15:

Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:)

This is held in conjunction with the Passover, so it is fulfilled. Then verse 16 says:

And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field…

That now is fulfilled; the 144,000 have been gathered in—that is the second feast. However, there is a third feast. The verse continues:

…and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.

The third and final feast must be observed. It must be held; it must come to its spiritual completion. God must fulfill the spiritual dimension of the feast of Ingathering, the feast of Tabernacles, before the acceptable year of the Lord can end. That feast is a feast that points to the time when God will gather in a huge harvest right near the end of the world.

Let us continue reading in Revelation 7. We have read verses 3-8, and now we will look at the next verse. Let us remember that the twelve thousand from the twelve tribes are the 144,000; they are the firstfruits. Their time was during the New Testament period; they symbolically represent a vast multitude that God saved throughout the approximately nineteen hundred years of the Church Age. Verse 9 says:

After this…

This is after God has sealed the 144,000, which is language that indicates that He has saved them and they been sealed by the Holy Spirit. After the 144,000 are gathered in and after, therefore, the second feast has been completed, there is a third feast to be observed. Revelation 7:9-12 says:

…I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.

The question is, “Who are they, and where did they come from?” Verse 9 states, “a great multitude, which no man could number…clothed with white robes.” To be clothed in white is Biblical language indicating that their sins have been washed away. They are clothed with the righteousness, the purity, and the complete justification of their salvation—that is what those white robes represent (Isaiah 61:10). The Lord Jesus Christ has saved them and they have been washed by the blood of the Lamb.

Where did they come from? The 144,000 of Revelation 14 are in view in verses 3-8 of Revelation 7, and we know that they are the firstfruits. Now Revelation 7:9 says, “After this”—that is a time reference. In this context, it is after the season of firstfruits. After the Pentecostal harvest of the Church Age, there will be the final harvest, the feast of Ingathering. God is going to reap a crop that is tremendous in number. He is going to save people from every nation, kindred and tongue. He is going to save sinners from all over the world, “a great multitude, which no man could number,” to finally fulfill and complete the promise to Abraham that he would be the father of many nations (Genesis 17:4) and that his seed would be as the stars of the Heaven for multitude (Genesis 22:17).

God is planning on doing this after the Church Age, but there is a problem here. Revelation 11 speaks of the Church Age, as far as it outlines it, with the description of the two witnesses, and we know that the two witnesses minister the Gospel from the church during the era of the church. Revelation 11:6-7 says, speaking of the two witnesses:

These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will. And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

This is talking about the loosing of Satan. Revelation 20 speaks of Satan being in the bottomless pit, just as Revelation 11 described, and he is loosed. Upon his loosing, it says that he goes after the camp of the saints. He is going to overcome them and kill them. He is going to be victorious over the church. We know that this is called the time of Great Tribulation. This is that little season, that awful period that the people of God have dreaded for many years might come upon them. As we would read about these events in Matthew 24 or in Mark 13 or Luke 21, the people of God have prayed that they might not be upon the earth at that time.

When this awful, dreaded time of Great Tribulation comes upon the world, a time the Bible says the world has never known (Matthew 24:21), it will be tremendously terrible; yet God is indicating that after the 144,000 are sealed, after the two witnesses are slain and the Church Age has come to an end, then a great multitude which no man can number will become saved. We do not have to wonder about this or question it or speculate about it. If we go back to Revelation 7:13-14, we see that a question was asked. We read:

And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes?…

Earlier in verse 9, the great multitude was arrayed in white robes. Therefore the question is, “Who are they, and where did they come from?”

…What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

How can that be? The Great Tribulation is a time of Satan’s loosing, a time when he can bind the hearts of men fast; a time that is an awful period of time as the Bible describes it. That is true, but God had a plan that was sealed up and hidden from understanding, even to the people of God, for many centuries. It was hidden until the time of the end, when His plan was to deliver up the church into Satan’s hand and to begin judging it by allowing Satan to overcome it. Then God, in His magnificence and brilliance, has developed a plan to call His people out of the churches and congregations to allow Satan to enter into the city and overcome and destroy it. However then, the people of God come out of the city and minister the Gospel to the world from the vantage point of being outside the churches and congregations. Then God will bless their ministry once again, and He will bless it to the point that a great multitude will become saved—a great multitude, which will be the final harvest.

The feast of Ingathering was to be held in the end of the year. That is significant language; it was actually held yearly in the seventh month on the fifteenth day—how could that be the end of the year? That would be like me saying, “The Fourth of July, which is in the end of the year.” You would stop and look at me and say, “No, the Fourth of July is a long way from the end of the year; it is in the seventh month, and there are many months to go until you reach the end of the year.”

God wrote in Exodus 23:16 that that final feast would be in the end of the year because He realized, as He developed His salvation plan, that He would bring it to pass in the end of days. He would bring it to pass in the end of time during the Great Tribulation, which comes right next to the very end of the world. He will fulfill His Word; He will complete the feast. The spiritual fulfillment of that feast will be the saving of an incredible number of people from around the world during these short few days of the Great Tribulation. God will pour out His Gospel and He will bring in the harvest.

We read this in different language in James 5:7, which says:

Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth…

There is the fruit of these two seasons—the firstfruits, and then the fruit that He will bring in with the last feast, the feast of Ingathering. God is the husbandman who is waiting. He has been longsuffering with this earth in allowing it to continue day after day only for this reason—He intends to save the last of His elect. Therefore, it says that He waits for the precious fruit of the earth. The verse continues:

…and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.

The early rain falls and brings in the firstfruits during the New Testament era, and the latter rain falls in the end, in the Great Tribulation. It falls in order to complete the harvest, in order to bring in the crop at the time of Ingathering, in order that God will save the very last one that He has declared He will save and committed Himself to save. He will save each and every one.

We are looking at these feasts because we saw in Jude that Enoch’s lifespan was 365 years, which ties in with the acceptable year of the Lord. We may go on and look at the feast of Tabernacles, which was held in conjunction with the feast of Ingathering, because there are some very interesting things that the Bible has to say about that feast. What exactly was the spiritual fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles? Why was that feast to be held along with the feast of Ingathering?